Recruitment fair for overseas graduates
June 3rd, 2009A job fair targeting overseas graduates was held recently in Beijing. It attracted more than one thousand graduates who had returned to China, diploma in hand.
45 companies and institutions attended the fair, bringing nearly 600 job opportunities with them. Some potential employers included the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shougang Group, and China Agricultural University. On the other side, graduates of overseas universities have adjusted their requirements, such as location and salary.
She said most of her fellow students had lowered their expectations on salary. But many employers say they are not interested in the educational background of job seekers. What they care for is the actual ability to work.
Overseas Graduate, said, "The advantage of overseas graduates is mainly in their language skills. But as foreign-funded firms are in depression, there is less room for us to make use of our advantage."
After staying overseas for a long time, these students are not familiar with the domestic working environment. This is a major concern for employers who attended the fair. Some overseas graduates say they hope there will be more chances for them to have face-to-face talks with domestic firms, because that will help them get the experience they need.
Graduates struggle as China slows
June 2nd, 2009At a recent job fair in Beijing, thousands of soon-to-graduate Chinese university students dashed from employer to employer handing over their resumes.
Just a few hours after the two-day fair opened, one company had received 50 job applications for just five positions.
Final-year Chinese students, like others across the world, are currently looking for their first job as they prepare to graduate.
But in China this is the first time in many years that the outlook has been so bleak - and this year there will be 6.1 million new graduates.
The vast China International Exhibition Centre in Beijing has several aircraft-hanger-sized halls, and last week it hosted a job fair geared towards graduates.
Fewer jobs
Companies with stalls at the fair said there were just not as many jobs available this year compared to previous years.
One of those with fewer vacancies was Best Talent, a recruitment firm that finds senior and middle managers for international companies.
"There are a lot of candidates at the moment, but even those with a good education are finding it difficult to find jobs," said the company's Vicky Liu as she accepted a curriculum vitae from yet another job hopeful.
A few months ago, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences estimated that about 12% of last year's graduates had still not found jobs.
That figure was three times higher than the official urban unemployment rate.
Last week's fair attracted students from across China, including 24-year-old Zhang Hai, who is about to graduate from a university in far-off Nanjing.
"Because of the financial crisis the outlook is not that good," said Mr Zhang, who is spending two months in China's capital looking for work.
"There are not that many jobs, but lots of students looking for work so obviously there's a lot of competition," he added.
Mr Zhang, who has been studying computer science, has been given money by his family to rent a flat in Beijing while he looks for work.
"I'm just about to graduate, I'm getting older and I'm still using the family's money so of course there's some pressure on me to find a job," he said.
Who to blame?
Despite the tough competition, students do not seem to be blaming the government for the current difficult job situation.
"It's a pity, but I can't complain too much. I just have to continue looking for something suitable," said Wang Jiumei, who also attended last week's Beijing job fair.
The 25-year-old student, who studies English in the nearby city of Tianjin, intends to go abroad to continue her studies if she cannot get a job.
Chinese government officials will be pleased to hear that students are not blaming them for their poor employment prospects.
They had been worried that high graduate unemployment could lead to discontent which, in turn, could cause social unrest.
The Tiananmen protests, which took place 20 years ago in May 1989, showed the government that dissatisfied students are capable of taking their demands onto the streets.
"For the last 20 years the government has been concerned about keeping the university population happy," said Arthur Kroeber, managing director at Beijing-based economic research firm Dragonomics.
He said the current employment problems facing graduates was not just because of fewer jobs, but also because there are now more graduates.
But Mr Kroeber believes the problem will sort itself out over time as university students lower their expectations.
"Certain kinds of clerical jobs that used to require only a high school education will increasingly be taken up by people who have a university education," he said.
Help from the government
But the Chinese government is not just sitting idly by and hoping that will happen. Officials are trying everything they can think of to help graduates find a job this summer.
In the city of Weifang, in Shandong Province, officials in one government department have been told they each have to find jobs for three graduates.
In a country where personal networks are important, Weifang officials have been asked to use all their contacts and influence.
Beijing city government has just announced a scheme to employ 1,600 graduates on three-year contracts as assistants to officials in the villages around the city.
This will not only help develop rural areas, but also find jobs for students who might otherwise be out of work.
The salary for these positions is relatively low - 2,000 yuan ($293, £183) a month for the first year - but the city government is promising other perks to encourage potential applicants.
After their contracts finish, village assistants could be given a Beijing resident's permit, which is vital for all those that want to continue working in the capital.
There are those who believe the Chinese economy is in good shape - despite the global recession - and will soon bounce back, creating more jobs for graduates.
Oliver Huang, whose company Mediaco helps foreign firms check how their brands are doing in China, is optimistic.
"Markets in Europe and the US are now mature, but China is still an emerging country, where the demand is still huge," he said at the Beijing job fair.
But with economic growth slowing and unemployment rising, the government is taking no chances.
Officials ordered to pull strings for graduates
June 1st, 2009An order for officials to pull strings to ensure jobs for graduates has sparked heated debate in an east coast city.
The personnel bureau in Weifang, Shandong province, ordered every official in the bureau to use their influence and connections to help at least three university graduates this year, Qilu Evening News reported.
Netizens doubted whether graduates from poor families, among the 60,000 graduates hunting for jobs in Weifang this year, would get priority for assistance.
Zhang Zhengzhi, the deputy director of Weifang's personnel bureau, said the May 14 order is not compulsory and would give priority to poor students.
"Do the math - 60 officials can only help 180 graduates in our city," he said.
"We only want to set an example to promote employment rather than take care of all job hunters."
In the face of a gloomy employment crisis, a Chinese human resources expert yesterday warned that local governments should make more efforts to facilitate the transfer of information between graduates and enterprises.
"The rule may put pressure on officials, who might play tricks with some companies to provide temporary offers to graduates to enhance the employment rate," said Wu Yongping, deputy director of public policy and management institution under Tsinghua University. "An official's duty should focus on organizing more employment fairs for students, and providing students' information to companies."
China centrally administered SOEs to recruit more graduates
May 31st, 2009China's 99 centrally administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) planed to recruit more than 203,000graduates this year as to ease job pressure, the state-owned assets administrator said.
The recruitment number is 7 percent more than that of the previous year.
The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) said more than 45 centrally administered SOEs would increase their headcounts this year, while 30 of them would hire the same amount of graduates compared with last year.
China National Petroleum Corp., the country's largest oil and gas producer and supplier, has by far held more than 30 job fairs in universities. It planed to recruit 13,000 graduates this year, an increase of 37 percent year on year.
China Railway Construction Corp., the nation's largest contractor, has recruited 13,000 graduates, an increase of more than 45 percent, or 4,060 people, compared with 2007.
Among all the SOEs, the Commercial Aircraft Corp. saw the largest increase. It planned to recruit 1,362 graduates, which was212 percent more than its previous plan.
The SASAC said it would strengthen supervision over the SOEs to put in place the recruitment. It also urged to further expand employment by offering more scientific research projects and probation jobs.
Baidu Staff Strikes Over Salary Cuts
May 27th, 2009Dozens of employees from Baidu's (Nasdaq:BIDU) South China subsidiary stopped work and began protesting changes to their salaries in front of Guangzhou's Tianhe District Labor Bureau after negotiations with a Baidu manager failed, reports 163.com. Unnamed employees said they were made to sign a new salary agreement in late April without fully understanding it, and the subsidiary's sales department was required to sign off on new KPI metrics in March, the report said. The salary revision was carried out nationwide and accepted in Beijing and Shanghai, said a Baidu insider. Baidu did not comment on the news, the report said. Baidu Chief Operating Officer Ye Peng said the company had not experienced a strike and seemed unaware of the protest, according to the report.
The new salary system and KPI requirements, which employees described as "impossible to fulfill," became effective May 1 and may halve the salaries of most lower-level sales staff, said employees attending the protest. Management will also accept a large pay cut, they said. According to an unnamed mid-level manager, the changes will affect about 200 employees in Guangzhou and more than 1,000 in the entire South China region, including Shenzhen and Dongguan, said the report.
Ye Peng announced the dismissal of three mid-level managers in charge of sales and operation during his visit to the company's Guangzhou subsidiary on March 27.
Taiwan April jobless rate at record, to rise further
May 26th, 2009Taiwan's April seasonally
adjusted jobless rate rose to a record 5.77 percent as
manufacturing and financial sectors were hard hit in what the
island that is suffering from what may be its longest recession,
the government said on Friday. Like most of Asia, Taiwan's unemployment rate has been
climbing steadily during the global downturn, with analysts
expecting the rise to persist in coming months as any economic
recovery will take time to filter through to the jobs market. In March, Taiwan's jobless rate hit 5.72 percent.
"Job prospects across various industries have dimmed
tremendously. Unless the global financial market situation
improves, the outlook in the job market remains bleak," said Sue
Ann Lee, an economist at Forecast Ltd in Singapore. "The uptrend in unemployment is still in sight," Lee said. Some analysts expect the jobless rate in Taiwan, a key
supplier in the global technology chain, to peak at around 6
percent in late 2009. Taiwan has a total labour force of 10.882
million out of its 23 million population. "Our jobs market is undergoing severe times now," said Huang
Jiann-jong, an official at the statistics agency, told a news
conference. "We're still seeing a lot of company closures." The state planning commission plans to keep the island's
average jobless rate at 4.5 percent this year, up from 4.14
percent last year, while President Ma Ying-jeou this week said
the unadjusted jobless rate would not rise above 6 percent. Taiwan has been hard hit by an export slump, with its economy in the first quarter shrinking by a record 10.24 percent
from a year earlier, although analysts said the worst was over.
The government on Friday said Taiwan's commercial sales in
April fell by an annual 9.5 percent, improving from a 12.2
percent decline, with analysts expecting closer trade ties with
China to help boost consumer spending. This week, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co
the world's top contract chipmaker, said it would
rehire hundreds of laid-off employees after revenue recovered,
although most companies are still keeping their workforce trim. "Overall, the labour market remains fragile and we expect
the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate will ultimately hit
the 6 percent ceiling," Christopher Wong from HSBC said.